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German Village may limit more parking

View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoAbigail Saxton Fisher | DispatchParking spots are hard to come by on Kossuth Street in German Village. Residents and nearby businesses are at odds over whether the blocks between Mohawk and S. 5th streets should be permit-only parking after 4 p.m.

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Driving to German Village for a cream puff could get a little trickier under Columbus’ newest
parking proposal for the neighborhood.

Residents of a two-block stretch of Kossuth Street are asking the city to require parking
permits after 4 p.m., touching off a dispute with local businesses and restaurants.

The residents argue that they can’t find parking spots during dinner rush, while restaurant
owners say they need open parking for their customers.“It’s a touristic area,” said Geoffrey
Schmidt, the president of Schmidt’s Restaurant und Sausage Haus. “Schmidt’s caters to that area. I
think the city of Columbus needs to be concerned with people who come into Columbus.”

The conflict in German Village is the latest dustup between businesses and residents of Columbus
neighborhoods where parking is scarce. Columbus is trying to resolve a similar dispute in the Short
North and Italian Village, where there are far more parking permits than available spaces. Once
that problem is resolved — supposedly this summer — Columbus officials could look at the rest of
the city, said Rick Tilton, assistant director of the Public Service Department. “We can’t do
multiple parking studies at once, because we just don’t have the staff resources.”

Opponents of the Kossuth Street proposal said parking needs to be evaluated throughout German
Village instead of on individual streets. Permits already are required on several German Village
streets, including a swath to the north that includes several businesses.

But businesses argue that other permitted streets don’t restrict parking until 6 or 8 p.m.

Kossuth Street resident Paul Carlson said at a meeting last week that he petitioned the city to
start permit parking at 4 p.m. because his daughter can’t find a space when she returns home from
after-school events after dark during the winter.

“There have been muggings in the area,” he said. “It’s a safety issue, in our perspective.”

Carlson’s petition asks for permits to start at 4 p.m. between Mohawk and S. 5th streets. A city
study found that there are 18 spaces for the eight addresses on those two blocks.

City staff members recommended that the permitted area be approved at a Transportation and
Pedestrian Commission meeting last week.

But the commission, an advisory board for the Public Services director, tabled the topic for 30
days.

Businesses and residents were asked to come up with an alternative plan. If no compromise can be
reached, the commission likely will vote on the current proposal in July. The parking problem was
exacerbated when the city banned parking in some alleys this year to make way for refuse trucks,
said Chris Pack, general manager of the Old Mohawk restaurant, which borders the proposed permit
zone.

The Old Mohawk does not have a parking lot and relies on street parking for customers and
employees, Pack said. Schmidt’s has a lot with 50 parking spaces, but that’s not enough for
customers and employees, Schmidt said.